“I live in Block 68. I am also looking for a place to park in the evenings after work. I circle around the block 3-4 times and end up parking illegally in a little green space, I admit.”
This confession came from the mayor of Varna, Blagomir Kocev, at a meeting with residents of the “Chaika” district who were dissatisfied with the introduction and implementation of the green zone in their area. The Plenary Hall in the municipality building was full last night with angry Varna citizens demanding their parking spaces and the old parking order.
“We will walk through the neighborhood and inspect every area. Everything is subject to change. Nothing is set in stone. We will not make any decisions without dialogue,” Kocev promised midway through the meeting after an hour-long avalanche of questions and complaints, which peaked with a statement from his neighbor. “What have you provided for the people to introduce a green zone? We will not allow you to do whatever you want, like the previous mayor! As a citizen, I want your resignation,” said Polina Staveva from Block 68 in the “Chaika” district. “Resignation!”—the hall began to chant.
Another neighbor of the mayor was more moderate. According to him, the problem is not the introduction of the green zone, but the installed “No Parking” signs. “We will pay for the ‘green zone’ and once again receive fines for improper parking,” the man expressed his anger.
The project for the green zone in Varna was approved in 2022. It foresees the establishment of 7 subzones in the territories of the “Odesos” and “Primorski” districts, located between the Blue Zone and Vasil Levski Boulevard.
The executors of the project are the well-known companies “Hidrostroy” and “Inzhstroy.” To implement it, the Varna Municipality has taken a bank loan of 12 million BGN, which will be paid by all Varna citizens through their taxes.
The deadline for the introduction of the zone—October 2023—has not been met. The contracts with the companies have been extended. Mayor Kocev summarized the idea of the project in one sentence: “regulating parking.” “There is tension and issues with the project. We will not introduce the zone without a basic public consensus,” the mayor asserted at the beginning of the meeting.
The discontent of the people arises from the fact that their parking spaces are actually being reduced in an already overbuilt neighborhood. This is happening not only due to the regulation and the impossibility of parking wherever one finds it. The number of designated parking spaces is being reduced by the project by 15%, Deputy Mayor Plamen Kitipov reported. According to him, they have been counted and compared using laser scanning by the designers. In reality, however, the introduction of no-parking zones and the marking of specially designated spaces of various sizes reduce the previous parking possibilities by about 40%. Of course, some of these were in gardens, near containers, on paths, on sidewalks, everywhere it was possible to stop without driving your neighbor crazy enough to break your windshield.
The green zone envisions a total of 2,757 regulated parking spaces in the neighborhood, of which 6% are for the disabled. Whether that is a lot or a little is a matter of perspective. To give Varna residents who do not live in “the best neighborhood” of the city an idea, it should be noted that in the mayor’s block alone, there are 210 apartments (in all of its entrances). And behind the old Block 68, there are four newly built apartment buildings.
In the Detailed Spatial Plan (DSP) for “Chaika,” adopted in 2015, buffer underground parking was planned. These were supposed to accommodate the increased flow of cars to the area following the introduction of the Blue Zone. Nine years later, almost all the planned residential development has been realized according to the plan. However, the buffer parking facilities have not. Their spaces are under Al. Stamboliyski Street, which is scheduled for reconstruction this year, as well as on the large lawn near the “Yavor” stop (next to Block 27), between the two micro-districts.
Tension in the hall escalated precisely after the reinstated chief architect Viktor Buzhev took the floor. “The municipality designs according to the decisions of the municipal councilors, who are your representatives in local government,” the chief architect addressed the angry crowd. “Change them if you don’t like it.”
Instead of calming the anger, he received booing in response. “My name is Viktor Buzhev, you may not want to boo me,” the municipal official retorted.
His appearance at the microphone, however, shifted the topic from parking to overbuilding in the neighborhood. People began to speak over each other, shouting. What was said sounded like this: “Why did you allow construction in ‘Chaika’?,” “To pocket money,” “There were protests against you,” “Let me show you a 17-story building in the neighborhood!” “Why is there construction in the ‘Micho Puh’ kindergarten? Who authorized it? Ah, the architect?”
The reaction to the last question was: “I don’t know of any building permit there. According to the DSP, it is for landscaping.” In response to the others, architect Buzhev only added: “This conversation would be more constructive if the previous administration was here.”
When the architect tried to explain that after the construction of underground parking, things would change, an elderly man interrupted him: “There’s no need for you to do anything. We’re fine as it is.”
“This is about putting things in order. You want chaos. I cannot be of assistance,” the chief architect left the podium.
“That’s not order, that’s extortion,” a voice rang out from the audience.
At 7 PM, after more than 90 minutes of arguments, the Plenary Hall was still full. And still without order and conditions for speaking and moderation—the citizens wandered between the microphones at the podium and in the hall, carrying letters, objections, leaving contacts, entering into personal dialogue with the mayor and the administration…
In the end, it was clarified that this is not a public discussion but a “preliminary meeting.”
Outside the hall, the municipal police were wondering how long they would have to stay and were planning to write a “report for overtime work.”
Instead of a comment
Let’s set aside whether there are or are not streets in the “Chaika” neighborhood and how legal the introduction of a green zone on the alley network is. However, should we not ask how normal it is to have a residential building constructed at the entrance of a municipal polyclinic (DCC “Chaika”) or, God forbid, in the yard of a kindergarten…
This is not a report intended to show either civic engagement or the impotence of local authorities. This is a text aimed at turning on the “alarm” and signaling. First to the prosecutor’s office, which could self-initiate an investigation based solely on the mayor’s statement that “the green zone will not recoup the investment.” But the money has already been spent. There is a project. There is a bank loan and conditions associated with it, and it continues. The municipality, i.e., the Varna residents, are paying for something they do not want. Or at least not in this way. And which is likely not to be implemented, according to their threats from yesterday and the concessions the administration is willing to make.
And secondly, this should serve as a lesson for the new authorities. Because this project does not only affect parking in one neighborhood. The story told by Maria Dimitrova from Block 51 at the beginning of the meeting was shocking. How a foreign company moved its business from Varna to Sofia and closed 1000 jobs here last year. Because the foreign employer happened to be in Varna when Hristo Smirnenski Boulevard was closed for repairs (again). He had to carry one of his employees, who had a heart attack, to the emergency room at UMBAL “St. Marina” because it was impossible for an ambulance to reach there. And he decided not to do business in a city where he risks his employees dying due to urban planning mess-ups…
